front loader or mini excavator

[finnercy]

Hi and thanks for the replies so far.

The dump trailer is 2 ton capacity and 8ftx5ft. Im doing the job myself and wont be getting someone in to do it, last time I had anyone do groundwork for me, they dug up the same main drainage pipe twice despite been given a plan for where it was and generally made a helleva mess. I am aware I could get someone in with heavy equipment and do the work in hours, however the tidy up afterwards would take days.

I going with a mini excavator and using my tractor/trailer to shift the soil. Skidsteer loaders are not common here, I'd need hired in plant insurance to get one (which I dont have and is expensive) but I could hire a mini excavator without it it locally and for a lot cheaper. Will make sure I have one which can load the trailer hightwise , 1.5ton is a common size here and easily available. I rented a 1 ton machine last year and was suprised at the power the thing had and the size of the bucket you could use and still dig in hard ground.

This is my property/garden I am working on, so Im trying to minimise the amount of collateral damage of this work and I have time on my hands just now for some reason....

 

[Grandad4]

I'll second the comment about a tooth bar on the loader making a huge difference for this sort of work. My little subcompact has dug and moved far more than 75 tons of hard-packed soil on many projects. That said, your plan to open up the ground with a mini excavator and then load to the trailer with the tractor bucket is pretty good, I think.

 

[ProjectKing]

Hi and thanks for the replies so far.

The dump trailer is 2 ton capacity and 8ftx5ft. Im doing the job myself and wont be getting someone in to do it, last time I had anyone do groundwork for me, they dug up the same main drainage pipe twice despite been given a plan for where it was and generally made a helleva mess. I am aware I could get someone in with heavy equipment and do the work in hours, however the tidy up afterwards would take days.

I going with a mini excavator and using my tractor/trailer to shift the soil. Skidsteer loaders are not common here, I'd need hired in plant insurance to get one (which I dont have and is expensive) but I could hire a mini excavator without it it locally and for a lot cheaper. Will make sure I have one which can load the trailer hightwise , 1.5ton is a common size here and easily available. I rented a 1 ton machine last year and was suprised at the power the thing had and the size of the bucket you could use and still dig in hard ground.

This is my property/garden I am working on, so Im trying to minimise the amount of collateral damage of this work and I have time on my hands just now for some reason....

Curious where you live. Skids steers are as common as potato chips and soda pop in the USA! Lol!

Your set up will work. Will just be slow going because you have to run both machines and dump trailer doesn’t have a huge capacity. But it will be certainly the most fun way of doing it! Excavators and dump trucks are fun to run. (0: Good luck!

 

[nbryan]

A box scraper at the other end where you're spreading and levelling would really help.

 

[finnercy]

yea the location is Scotland in the UK. Backhoe loaders seem to be the the thing here that get used in preference to skidsteers, you do get skid steers, but not very common.

I am using a box scraper as a rear counterweight currently (again box scrapers dont seem that popular in the U.K) and yesterday used it for leveling off an area I am going to pave, the ground is sandy with many many stones and it has worked very well just using the blade without rippers engaged. I need some more practice on it though. Great to move/level a few tons of sand/stones and not have a sore back after!

 

[Code54]

A CTL (compact track loader) and a little time and that pile will be gone. You can move a lot of material with one of those in a day.

Exactly - that would be no big deal at all. 75 tons is not a whole lot and you are not going real far so you can do it in a day.

 

[plowhog]

Hi

Newish operator, I need to move 75+ton of dirt in piles of about 10ft high. Its been sitting 10 years so is very well compacted. I attacked it with my Front loader (Kubota B2230 HST) but was strugging to break into it and get a full bucket.
I need to move this dirt about 100 yards for distributing and leveling out so wondering what my best option is.

I did almost exactly this same project except with a Massey GC1710 scut and a 5x8 2 ton dump trailer. And my pile of dirt was maybe 8 feet high, not 10.

I was surprised how many trips it required, but I did get it done. I had the dump trailer hitched to my truck and loaded it with the Massey SCUT. I did have a "piranaha bar" on the front of my loader which helped a lot to get a bite of dirt. Even so, there were numerous times where I had to back up, and get a new bite. If I could do this with a SCUT I think you can do it with your setup .. and maybe a tooth bar instead of a smooth edge on the bucket.

 

[4570Man]

Do the batteries in dump trailers hold up to marathon dirt moving?

 

[ProjectKing]

yea the location is Scotland in the UK. Backhoe loaders seem to be the the thing here that get used in preference to skidsteers, you do get skid steers, but not very common.

I am using a box scraper as a rear counterweight currently (again box scrapers dont seem that popular in the U.K) and yesterday used it for leveling off an area I am going to pave, the ground is sandy with many many stones and it has worked very well just using the blade without rippers engaged. I need some more practice on it though. Great to move/level a few tons of sand/stones and not have a sore back after!

That’s great! Nice to talk with someone from Scotland. I have heard compact wheel loaders are very popular in Europe. That’s what’s I would like to have! They don’t tear up the ground like a skid steer.

I think your plan will work well! Yes the box blades work excellent. I normally never use my rippers. The blade alone can do a lot of work in the right ground.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I absolutely love my Kubota R510 wheel loader with backhoe. Never a thought about wrecking turf with the turf tires.

As much as it is designed for production loading, and I have a toothed bucket, if the material was firm, I would probably dig it up a bit with the backhoe first. Just becaue you can force a machine to do something, doesn't mean it's the wise thing to do.